I think I posted it on the Santa Monica 7’s page… but why do city councils think a reduction in seats will mean a reduction in traffic? All those old tired regulations about X parking spaces per seat make no sense in a day where people are coming to see a convenient showtime. If anything it’s the number of screens that dictates traffic.

With the AMC 7 and the Criterion 6 closing, the new 12-plex would be one less screen and one less convenient showtime that would get people into their cars and into a parking space.

Sounds like this theater will be around until their lease expires in 2014. What a waste of space. Would be great to have an Arclight and a new arthouse theater on the promenade, instead of 3 shoddy multiplexes.

Did AMC lie about closing the Broadway to gain an advantage in the bidding process? Stay tuned.

And Scott: Regency Theatres' deal with the owner of the Fairfax involved them assuming more responsibility for building upkeep for a lower overall rent. And it’s not that the landlord wants AMC to stay, it’s that he wants to continue doing business as a theater — something that will be denied him if the city refuses to renew his CUP.

This has been the problem all along. The city and AMC may want the Broadway closed, but they don’t own the building. It’s good to hear that the owner is fighting them, however. What it seems like to me is that the city is working with AMC to reduce competition. So much for our free market economy.

I enjoy that the building owner wants the tennant to make a capital investment in their property. In my experience in the theatre business that’s not usually how it works. If the landlord wants AMC to stay, he needs to make a capital investment.

This theater’s days are probably numbered; AMC is in negotiations with the City of Santa Monica to build a new theater nearby, and the closing of this theater appears to be a condition for the project to move ahead. The City wants to avoid an “oversaturation” of theaters. Here is an article about the situation: View link

Scott, to answer your question (nearly two years later!) as someone who has gone to all of these theaters many times — the insides of all of the 3rd St Promenade theaters are fairly recent (90s era) and so are pretty plain. That’s why I’ve never bothered to take any photos inside them. I can’t speak for others.

Ken, yes, the El Miro was mostly demolished. As that poster stated, the facade was preserved. It’s one of those odd situations…

The Santa Monica Daily Press today stated that the city is demanding that if AMC replaces their 7 screener with a 12 screen facility, that they must promise to shut the Broadway 4 (which they also operate) to prevent “oversaturation of movie theaters.” The problem is, they only lease that facility, and once they give up the lease have no control over it.

Regarding the opening comments, I believe the El Miro was demolished before the Broadway was built. The El Miro has its own page on CT. Here is a photo of the Broadway from a few years ago:http://tinyurl.com/6g6o5n